Greek Darkness and Chanukah Light

The Rebbe explains why the Greeks did not destroy the oil but only contaminated it with the Greek “touch.” Their objective was to remove the sanctity from the Temple and all of Judaism.

Why were the Greeks Singled Out?

The Midrash comments on one of the opening words of the Torah: “darkness was on the face of the deep.” The Midrash states that the darkness alludes to the Greek Empire because it darkened the eyes of Israel with their decrees, for they would say to them, “Write on the horn of an ox that you have no portion in the G-d of Israel.”

The question can be asked, why of all the nations that persecuted the Jews were the ancient Greeks singled out to be described as darkness?

Moreover, of all nations, the Greeks were responsible for the greatest explosion of knowledge. They excelled in virtually all areas of knowledge; mathematics, astronomy and especially philosophy. They were great in art and science. The Talmud praises ancient Greek and Maimonides extolled the intellect of Aristotle.

The simple answer is that the Greeks denied the Divinity of Torah. They tried to extinguish the light of Torah and just leave its shell which is dark relative to its true nature.

Translation of Tora into Greek

It all began with the Greek translation of the Torah. The Talmud relates that King Ptolemy of Egypt invited 72 Sages and asked them to translate the Torah into Greek. To insure that they were not going to alter its meaning he placed them into 72 cubicles.

Miraculously, all of the 72 Sages translated the Torah identically. Moreover, they did make 13 identical changes that would prevent the King form misinterpreting the words of the Torah or take what it says as a personal insult.

The first change was the syntax of the very first words of Genesis. In the original, the Torah says, “Bereishis-In the beginning G-d created…” The first word begins with the letter Beis. However, in their translation they inverted the word “beginning” and instead translated it as “G-d created in the beginning.” The name for G-d here begins with the letter aleph.

This is not just a minor difference. The reason the Torah begins with a beis and not an aleph is explained by the Rebbe, based on the Talmud and Midrash, because it is the number two, which suggests that study of Torah is the second step we take towards the Torah. The first step is the awareness and affirmation that it is G-d’s wisdom which totally transcends human wisdom.

However, the Torah that was translated into Greek was missing that crucial element. The Greeks were not capable of accepting the transcendent aspect of Torah so the Sages, with Divine inspiration, saw to it that their Torah started with an aleph. For them, the intellectual knowledge of Torah was the maximum they could reach.

Once the Torah was “watered down” to accommodate the Greek monarch, the seeds of the degeneration of the standard of Torah for the Jews under Greek domination took place.

13 changes, 13 Breaches

The thirteen changes that were necessitated were the seeds of subsequent Greek tyranny over Jews and Judaism. This tyranny included the 13 breaches of the wall of the Bais Hamikdash, known as the soreg. This wall was the boundary that separated the non-Jews who came to the Temple from the Jewish pilgrims. Breaching of this partition was the Greek way of saying we are going to infringe on your concept of holiness and separation and adulterate the concept of holiness.

This too, the Rebbe explains is why the Greeks did not destroy the oil but only contaminated it with the Greek “touch.” Their objective was to remove the sanctity from the Temple and all of Judaism. This all began tragically by the changes made in their translation, which hid the Divine transcendent aspect of Torah.

This explains why the Talmud states that the day in which this translation was made was as difficult for the Jews as the day in which the Golden Calf was made.

We can now understand why the Greek Empire and Greek culture is characterized by the Midrash as darkness. The light of Torah derives from the recognition of its Divine transcendent nature.

Torah versus Secular Knowledge

However, there is a deeper way of understanding the association between Greek knowledge and darkness that is reflected in the difference between Torah knowledge an secular knowledge.

The Talmud states that if one were to say to us that there is wisdom amongst the nations we should believe them. The Torah recognizes the value of many of the secular disciplines. Moreover, some of these disciplines such as mathematics and astronomy are crucial for the laws of the sanctification of the new moon. Some of the greatest rabbis were astronomers,; a requirement for the members of the Sanhedrin.

The knowledge of medicine is another example where secular knowledge is indispensable for healing people, which, according to Maimonides is a Biblical commandment that does not allow us to stand idly by the blood of our fellow and the requirement to return a lost object which includes restoring one’s health.

However, secular knowledge as an independent entity, that does not serve a higher purpose, is a qualitatively inferior area of knowledge. This is reflected in the end of the foregoing Talmudic citation that recognized the wisdom of the Nations: “If one were to tell you that is Torah amongst the nations do not believe him.” This means that Torah is a unique discipline that was given to the Jewish people.

Granted Torah is Divine wisdom, but isn’t all wisdom G-d’s creation? This is true especially for wisdom that is used for the observance of a Mitzvah. So the Talmudic difference between Torah and secular knowledge seems to be a difference without a distinction.

In truth, all wisdom obviously comes from G-d the Creator of the Universe.

Facial and Backside Wisdom

However, the Kabbalists teach us that there is G-d’s “facial wisdom” and His “backside wisdom.” This can be phrased slightly differently: There is G-d’s inner wisdom that reflects His presence and true reality and there is G-d’s external wisdom which conceals His presence and can only be called virtual reality.

To illustrate:

When we look at the world of nature and we see a table, the physicist will tell us it’s not just one solid chunk of wood nailed together, but it consists of atoms and subatomic particles and indeed there is nothing there except for energy.

Our perception relative to the physicist’s perception is true reality versus virtual reality.

Only the physicist who has the right instruments can discover the real composition of the table. Without his perspective we are in the dark. We see what our eyes allow us to see, but we cannot see the true reality of that object. We are in the dark.

However, eve the physicist’s perception is only virtual reality because the true reality of everything physical is the Divine letters of speech that G-d is continuously uttering to keep all of creation in existence.

Even the physicist, who has empirically proven theories about the nature of the table, is in the dark because he cannot see the true underlying reality of everything.

Only Torah gives us a glimpse into G-d “face.” Torah is overt G-dly wisdom. When we study Torah, with the appreciation for its Divinity, we connect to true reality. Hence the Torah is called Torah Or-the Torah of Light.

“The Sister of Lotan was Timna”

To further clarify this point, Panim Yafos, basing his words on the teachings of the Arizal referred to a verse in Genesis which describes the concubine of Esau’s son Elifaz, who name was Timna. The Torah gives her family background and states: “The sister of Lotan was Timna.”

Panim Yafos explains that the word sister is a metaphor as it says, “Say to wisdom you are my sister.” Timna therefore represents wisdom but she is only a concubine not a full wife. If we take the name Lotan and we will see that it all of its letters are the letters that follow – Or the “backside” – for wisdom “Chochma.”

In other words, the Torah is hinting to us that true wisdom, the face of wisdom can found only in Torah. However, there is also another form of wisdom that attaches itself to Torah, its concubine, which is called Lotan.

What this message conveys is that all wisdom relative to the wisdom of Torah is called darkness because it obscures more than what it reveals.

While all wisdom, as all of existence including darkness, derives from G-d; but the other wisdoms are here to serve a higher purpose. When secular knowledge understands that its purpose is to serve as a concubine to its senior partner it has legitimacy.

This was the basis for Maimonides’ mastering of Greek Philosophy. He used it as a way to help the perplexed recognize that there is no contradiction.

Cryptic Story

We can no decipher a cryptic story in the Talmud concerning the King Menashe, known for his idolatrous and murderous reign. The Talmud relates that in a dream he ridiculed the Torah’s statement that “the sister of Lotan was Timna.”

Why did he find this sentence so objectionable?

One may suggest that Menashe was upset that Timna was only a concubine. Metaphorically this means that he was upset that the Torah relegated secular wisdom to a lower level; it is only the “backside” of wisdom.

The fact that Menashe in particular was upset can be explained in light of the concept expounded upon in our preceding essay that the name Menasheh implies forgetfulness. Forgetfulness is caused by a superficial attachment to a subject; when one is connected to the “backside” of wisdom.

Menashe personified the external aspect of wisdom. He was therefore vexed that the secular knowledge was given a secondary status of a concubine. To him the external was no less significant than the internal. He therefore mocked the idea that Timna was only a concubine; her position should have been more exalted.

This then was the victory of Chanukah; the triumph of light over darkness; of pure unadulterated Torah knowledge over all the other disciplines; placing them in their proper place as auxiliary to Torah.

From the book Light from the Future: Chanukah by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.